OF SCOTTISH CHURCH HISTORY: EMBRACING THE PERIOD FROM THE REFORMATION TO THE REVOLUTION. BY THE REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, AUTHOR OF THE "LIFE OF DR RE B EDINBURGH : JOHN JOHNSTONE, HUNTER SQUARE. MDCCCXLI. 456. PREFACE. THE substance of the following Sketches was originally delivered in the form of Lectures; and the first portion of them, embracing the period preceding the Restoration of Charles II., appeared some time since in a popular Religious Periodical. The author having been requested to publish the whole in a separate Volume, they now appear in a somewhat altered form, and with considerable additions; thus presenting a connected and concise history of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation to the Revolution. Having been composed chiefly for the benefit of the Young, with the view of inducing them to take an interest in the Church of their fathers, and adapted to a popular audience, without the most distant prospect of publication, these Sketches will be found to differ, both in style and matter, from ordinary historical writings. The circumstances now mentioned will account, not only for the absence of polish in the composition, but for the frequent introduction into the text of authorities which might otherwise have found a more appropriate place in the margin. The popular and almost conversational tone thus imparted to the narrative, it was found impossible to alter, without recasting the whole into another mould, and constructing a new work. The object of the Volume is rather to exhibit the more prominent and characteristic features of our Church History, than to enter into details, or to develope the internal character of the Church in her ecclesiastical acts and proceedings. To those who wish to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with this part of the subject, the author begs cordially to recommend the "History of the Church of Scotland," by his esteemed friend the Rev. W. M. Hetherington, minister of Torphichen, a work which promises to supply, what has been long wanted, and much wished for, a complete History, bearing the impress of genuine talent, and breathing the spirit of the true Reformed and Covenanted Church of Scotland. Though the volume has been unavoidably extended to a much larger size than was originally anticipated, either by the author or his publisher, it has been considered advisable, at the expense of swelling it still more, to insert in the Appendix the Correspondence between the author and Mr Patrick F. Tytler, on the alleged participation of John Knox in the conspiracy against Riccio. To the high professions of impartiality, with which some historians have ushered their productions into the world, the author does not aspire, and is not disposed to attach much value; having seldom found such professions realized, and being convinced that no writer of Church History who has any principles to which he attaches importance, can describe the scenes and characters with which these principles are identified, without imparting to the description more or less of the colour of his own mind. The author candidly avows himself a Presbyterian of the old school; and he has been at no pains to conceal his sentiments. In support of the main facts of the history, which have been amply authenticated in larger works, accessible to all, he considered it superfluous to adduce authorities. But he has advanced no statement, the truth of which he did not endeavour to ascertain by personal investigation; and, in disputed cases, the authorities to which he refers will speak for themselves. The leading facts of our ecclesiastical history, so far as is requisite to form a candid and enlightened judgment on them, are placed beyond all dispute, having been substantially admitted by respectable historians of all different creeds and principles. The discrepancies which appear in their accounts, and which have induced some to question the credibility of all history, consist chiefly in the opposite interpretations which they put on the same facts, and the different conclusions which they draw from the same events |